I’m more inclined to pop open a bottle from the experts,
but, hey, I don’t have the White House staff on hand to fix what “ales”
me. So I asked a home brewing friend, Matt Canale, a video game
developer in L.A., to fill me in on his experience and give our readers
some tips on how to get started.

Today is IPA Day!

Today is a damn good holiday. It’s IPA Day. Or, in the world of Twitterati and Instagrammers, #IPADay. IPA Day started last year as a grassroots social media movement meant to rally beer nerds worldwide in a grand, joyful and bottle-filled celebration of a craft beer rich with history, hops and happiness. According to the event’s website, “IPA Day is not the brainchild of a corporate marketing machine, nor is it meant to serve any particular beer brand. IPA Day is opportunity for all breweries, bloggers, businesses and consumers to connect and share their love of craft beer.” Last year, enough drinkers got excited about the concept to get the hashtag trending on Twitter with around 10,000 tweets, and now some bars and restaurants are even holding events to celebrate. If you can't find an official event around you, you can at least be a good Samaritan by visiting your favorite watering hole and convincing someone to swap out their normal watered-down brew for something far more satisfying. The origin of the traditional India Pale Ale is a contentious subject: Popular legend has it that the brew gained popularity in the late 1700s and early 1800s when some genius British guy decided that extra hops needed to be added to the beer Brit soldiers and sailors took on their long voyages to India. Other beer nerds say the idea of adding hops to beer dates back as far as the 1760s, when there was a general consensus that it was “absolutely necessary” to add hops to beer intended to be consumed in hot climates. And while Americans may have totally fucked up the taco and every Asian chicken dish (I swear General Tso's chicken is just a bunch of McNuggets doused in bastardized barbeque sauce), we kind of hit it head (pun) on with our Americanization of the IPA, which has enveloped into a beautiful beer subculture rich with variations like double and triple IPAs and crazy flavor profiles, adding fruit and herb undertones and dark, smoky accents. While some certain brands and styles of beer like mainstream pilsners and lagers might be more ubiquitous in the American drinking landscape, the IPA represents, truly, a craft beer art form that continues to be innovated and explored. If you're not sure where to start, check out alehead.com's list of some of the best IPAs available today before you head to the store. Bell's Two Hearted Ale will forever have my heart, but I think we might have to see other people today.

Bar/restaurant mural captured the ’80s — bad styles and good times

Before Burger Madness, there was mural madness at Arthur’s, the Hyde Park restaurant/bar. From 1981 to 1992, Jerry Dowling painted
caricatures of 142 regulars on a 44-foot wall. The characters are still
there — on the mural, anyway — but the character has changed.

We at CityBeat try hard to
maintain high journalistic standards, as evidenced by last week’s
internal editing debate over whether a freelancer who used the word
“shit” was literally referencing “feces” or “stuff” (turns out it was
poo).

A 118-year-old pump station and water tower in Eden Park
could soon be home to a microbrewery and tasting room if city officials
approve the developers’ request to overhaul the building. The developers
are reportedly members of the Martin family, which already owns the
Cincinnati Beer Company.

Don’t call it a restaurant. Cincinnati riverfront’s new Moerlein
Lager House is not just a restaurant — this becomes brazenly clear as
soon as you step into the 15,000-square-foot (without even including the
underground service level) beer mecca.

The Enquirer’s Cliff Radel
informed readers today that not all of the historical lore out there
about the devastating Ohio River flood of 1937 is true. Apparently, it’s
not really true that houses floated down the river and came to rest
elsewhere completely intact, despite many tales told by locals over the
years.

When I look at a wine list or scan the bottles behind a bar, I look for the unfamiliar — and not just unfamiliar. In fact, the weirder the better.
So when I’m confronted by a list of Napa cabs and a shelf full of easily recognizable Russian vodkas, I opt instead for a seasonal beer on tap. At least I know it will disappear soon enough.

Election Party Food and Drinks

Like half the country, I'll be attending an election party on Nov. 4. Since people are saying this is an "important election" (unlike previous elections, which might or might not have been important), it's occurred to me that special food is in order to celebrate the occasion.